


Bio-electricity

by PaperHatCollection



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: also eel au, mer-au, their mer eels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-15
Updated: 2018-04-15
Packaged: 2019-04-23 01:38:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14321700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaperHatCollection/pseuds/PaperHatCollection
Summary: Captured by humans, Oliver certainly hadn't thought he'd meet another of his kind in their research tanks.





	Bio-electricity

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by some pictures over on tumblr, since I guess merman are in right now. I told myself if I was going to write this, it had to be a oneshot. But... I had too many ideas to fit them all here. I might continue the series at some point.

Oliver had never woken up this late before- the sun was still in the sky, and the upper ocean waters were flooded with light that reflexed off his yellow tail like a beacon to call any nearby predators for a free eel meal, out of his comfort zone and dead tired. Just an hour before he’d risen from his hole in the coral reefs just shy of 150 meters deep, careful not to disturb his still sleeping brothers, and made for the nearby beach in search of more human trinkets to add to his collection.

Normally, he’d go in the dead of night, but lately there had been more than the normal share of boats out at night with lanterns searching the waves for… something. Oliver didn’t think the humans had ever seen him on any of his trips before, but he was wary of being got in the spotlight either way. But already he was regretting this plan, already fighting the urge to turn around and go back to bed. Maybe a few shiny trinkets weren't worth this much effort. Besides, there were always the currents to bring bits and pieces of the human world to him.

Resting on a rock near the sandy beach, Oliver eyed it as he gently slapped his tail across the water in thought. Humans didn’t come to this beach much this time of year, so he wasn’t afraid of being seen, but it was still a risk all the same. He could just imagine Google lecturing him now, or their panic should one of them wake up and realize Oliver had disappeared. He’d already promised a month ago that he’d stop collecting new stuff to add to his collection, which he’d hidden away in the very back of his hole in the coral. He was the smallest of his brothers, so none of them were even able to fit into his hole to check if he was telling the truth or not.

Making his mind up, Oliver pushed himself off the rock, and in one fluid motion, leapt off and towards the water, his body making in arch back into the safest in the oceans depths. Instead, his body hit something he hadn’t noticed, which at first made Oliver think of the time he’d swam into kelp and gotten tangled up. Pulling back, Oliver quickly attempted to free himself by fleeing the way he’d come, only to press against the net on that side of his body. Net. _NET-_

Panic hit him full force as Oliver realized he was in a fisherman's net, thrashing outward as he tried to break the mesh keeping him contained in the air, twisting and turning in a way that did nothing but get him even more tangled. He was dimly aware of being moved as he brought the nearest chunk of the net to his mouth, biting down as his sharp teeth shred right through it. Before he could enjoy his victory, or increase the size of the hole he’d made, the net opened under him and dumped him back into water.

But his relief was short lived- this wasn’t ocean water. It lacked the scent of the ocean, of fish and plants and everything in between that lived and swam under the waves. This was a tank- something he’d only ever heard of in the stories Google had told them all since they were kids, to prevent them from wandering off. It was barely long enough for him if he curled up, and too warm.

Looking up, he watched as the ceiling above him closed off, and felt the boat under his tail begin to move. He pushed himself to the top of the tank, where a bunch of the water had overflowed to the ground around his tank when he’d been dumped in. It was strapped in at several places, making him doubt he could knock it over. Even if he did, he’d be trapped down here with no way to the surface until the humans took him where they wanted to…

Memories of Google telling him about humans that cut up an eels tail for sushi flashed into his head, and Oliver shivered.

“-but It’s longer than the other one.”

“Yeah, much longer. Do you think this ones a girl?”

“I’d bet money one it. That might help them get along.”

It took Oliver a moment to even hear the words once he’d popped his head above water. Nearby, standing on steps that seemed to lead above deck, a pair of scientist stood talking to each other. Oliver eyed the latter, but it was too small for even him to squeeze through. Sinking back below the water, Oliver curled up the best he could in the tank and preyed his brothers would come for him.

The sounds of the humans a boat muffled by the water, and the rocking of the boat rocking him into a state of calm, Oliver was reminded just how tired he was when sleep hit him like a shark attack, pulling his eyes close and allowing him to seek false safety in his dreams. Maybe, he thought as he drifted off, he’d wake up and this would all be a bad dream.

It wasn’t a bad dream.

Olivers next waking thought came who knows how long later- he woke being held in the grip of some kind of hammock system, being lowered into the water of a new tank. This one was much, much larger than the one he’d been stuffed in before, allowing him to stretch out his cramped tail and swim forward without hitting glass. In fact, most of this seemed to be made out of human rock- concrete. Except for a window in which the humans watched him through, muttering to themselves. Oliver couldn’t hear the words, but he could see their lips move.

Ignoring their stares, Oliver turned away from the glass and swam further into the tank, scanning his new environment. At first, he thought the humans must have cut out a chunk of the ocean floor for this habitat, as it _looked_ just like the coral reefs he and his brothers had made their home in, but the water felt a little too thin, like the reefs that existed near the surface, and not the deeper ones he and his brothers preferred to nest in. And even more than that, the smells were all… wrong. Everything was so flat, with the stink of human made materials cutting through the water unfiltered by fish. In fact, by swimming closer, he was able to see how _off_ the coral looked up close, to pale and lifeless to be real.

Besides that, the most he could smell was seaweed and human. It was that reason why he missed the body laying across the coral, until he’d swam close enough to actually _see_ it. Jerking back to a sudden stop in the water, his eyes fell over the other eel in shock.

At first, Oliver thought he was dead.

The mer-eel was slumped over the pale imitations of the coral reefs, head resting on folded arms while his tail fell over random points in the rocks, not even attempting to hide his black scales from view. It wouldn’t have even been that hard- he was too thin, too short- his tail was just barely twice as long as the rest of his body. The fins running along his tail and body lay limp and lifeless on his torso, like the support had been pulled right out of them. Worst off all was the lack of visible electricity running through the veins in his body, as if he’d been sucked dry of his power. Instead his skin was pale and sickly opening.

But then he saw the others body was moving up and down in slow, steady breathing, and realized that even _worse_ , this sickly-looking thing was _alive_. Oliver felt sick just looking at the poor guy. Attempting to swim closer, Oliver disturbed the water enough to wake him from his light slumber, the other eel lifting his head to blink dulled eyes at the other. Confusion turned to shock, and then pure joy. The stranger pushed himself up to sit on the coral, before chirping at Oliver like a child that wanted to play.

“ _What did they do to you_?” Oliver asked in their native tongue. The confused look returned to the strangers face as he pushed himself off the rocks and closer towards Oliver, swimming through the water- but he swam… weirdly. Rather than allowing his tail to roll back and forth in waves through the water, he flicked the whole thing back and forth like a fish would, almost as if he’d never learned how to-

Horrified, electric yellow eyes met dull orange. “ _Can you… can you understand me_ ?” he asked, almost afraid of the answer. “ _How long… how long have they kept you here_?”

Tilting his head slightly, as if trying to solve a puzzle, the mer-eel made another sound- a low keen sound that reminded Oliver of a confused animal. But then he opened his mouth, and spoke in a garbled tone, ill suited for underwater communication and in an entirely human dialect;

“What?”

...

He didn’t even know his own language.

……...

Oliver wouldn’t call himself ‘violent’. Especially not in comparison to his brothers. But the speed at which he spun around and flung himself at the glass wall separating hims and humans would have made _Red_ look passive. He hit it with the full force of his body, electricity sparking to life and buzzing around the water directly surrounding him, lighting his skin up as he clawed at the glass, slamming a fist into it before pulling himself back and ramming his shoulder into the same spot.

He heard the cracking as the wall began to give under his attack, and oh, how he couldn’t help but delight in the panic that began to spread through the humans as they realized their catch wasn’t going to play nice anymore. As hsi field of vision narrowed to a single point, Oliver slammed himself into the wall over and over, the echoes of his own assault working their way through the damage he’d already done to the glass and spreading the cracks deeper and deeper, until with one final groan from the weight of the water on the damaged surface, the glass under his skin shattered and sent him and a torrent of water crashing onto the floor.

No sooner had he hit the ground than Oliver wound himself up, pushing himself onto his hands and using his tail to launch himself at the nearest human, fully intending to sink his claws into it’s pathetic flesh. Before he could reach them, however, the other mer-eel, sucked out by the force of the rapidly draining water, landed on his back, sending the two of them crashing to the ground and getting tangled up in each other.

Oliver pushed the panicking eel away from him the best he could, struggling to place himself in the room now that he’d gotten so distorted. The bright lights, unfiltered by the water, were nearly blinding his poor eyesight, and his sense of smell was nearly useless out of water. And somewhere, an alarm had started, the noise boring into his skull like a drill. His tail flopped uselessly against the ground as he scrambled to figure out which way was ‘up’, pushing himself off the ground and feeling like he was going to be sick from the overstimulation. Blurred shapes ran past him, and he squinted pointlessly as he tried to make out where the humans had gone.

He almost didn’t feel the pricks of pain in his side, dropping his eyes to stare at three darts sticking out of his skin. THe need to get them out of his body shot to the front of his mind, overriding any other coherent thought, but he couldn’t even seem to get his hands wrapped around the thin vials before his arms turned to jello and he crashed to the floor.

In a state that wasn’t quite awake and wasn’t quite asleep, Oliver could faintly feel hands and straps over his body, was aware of humans speaking in their garbled language above his body, but was unable to translate it. Nor could he seem to bring himself to care, all his mind wanted was to drift off into sleep and give his sore body a rest from the headache he’d gained.

  


…

…

…

……….

He was _awake_.

Oliver shot up before he was even fully aware of himself, slamming his head into the ceiling of a nest. For a moment, Oliver thought he must have crawled into the wrong hole when he failed to detect his own scent in the tunnel. He stretched out slowly, confused why his muscles were so sore, trying to remember what he’d been doing last.

And then his eyes landed on his arms, still scarred from where the glass had cut into skin, stitched together where the humans had removed shards and put him back together. Just like that, everything came flooding back to him. Oliver froze, shaking as he stared at the cuts before uncoiling himself from his hole, finding the entrance and pulling himself free and out of the coral where he’d been placed to sleep. He didn’t know who had put him there, but he wasn’t sure the other eel had even known that those tunnels were a safe place to sleep, judging by how he’d napped on top of them.

If he was right, the other had been here his whole life and had no idea why he’d even _need_ to find a safe place to sleep. Oliver couldn’t even wrap his mind around that idea- to be locked away in captivity for so long just for… for those humans twisted _amusement_ . Did they even _care_ that being here had caused physically _damage_ to the other eel? Did they even _notice_ before they had a healthy specimen to compare him too? They certainly hadn't built a tank that could hold Olivers strength- and he was the _weakest_ out of all four of his brothers.

Speaking of the other eel, Oliver spotted him swimming near the surface of the tank, nearest what dim lights were currently on. At first, Oliver questioned why it was so dark, until he turned and realized the glass that had separated him from the lab and the humans within was currently covered by a metal sheet. Rather than break his arms trying to break through this one, Oliver swam upwards, towards the other eel.

As he got closer, Oliver realized he wasn’t swimming randomly. He was zigzagging in the water, his tail occasionally flicking just right to form the series of cresents that Olivers own tail did as he swam. He realized that the other was trying to copy him- to swim through the water as he’d seen Oliver do, had possibly realized had allowed Oliver to swim so much faster, be so much steadier than his own imitation at swimming was. Once more, he felt bad for his poor eel, cut off from the ocean and any family he had before-

He wasn’t sure he wanted to know how the humans had gotten their hands on him.

For a moment, he just watched. Watched the others attempt at swimming, watched the way he muttered to himself and hit his tail when he lost the pattern and stumbled into a wall, watched until he turned just right to see Oliver watching him. The other eel froze, staring at Oliver in shock. Oliver swam up slowly, curling around the other in the water so that his tail encircled the water around the other before he came to a stop in front of him, his eyes wide as he watched Oliver's graceful movements.

“.... Me… ma-my…” Oliver coughed, hating how sharp and out of place the humans words sounded as they fell from his mouth. “Name… Oliver.”

“Oliver?” the other asked slowly, still shocked. He was starting to drift downwards, and had to wave his arms down through the water to keep himself in place, unlike Oliver who did so effortlessly. “I… wasn’t sure you could talk. I mean you were saying something earlier, but I couldn’t understand what your were… uh, well, I’m… well, I’m Bing. I was named after-um, well nevermind. You wouldn’t know that that is so… um, yeah.”

“Bing.” Oliver muttered. He was pretty sure he understood every other word out of Bing’s mouth. At least they had some way of communicating- but Google had always been best at human languages. Oliver was a close second, followed by Green who only knew a few words, and lastly Red, who spoke none of it.

“Do you…” Oliver paused. It took him a second to translate his words from his thoughts and into speaking human. “Know a way to… ocean?”

“The ocean?” Bing glanced at the closed off window. “Well I know one way to look at it, but I’m not really supposed to… you won’t tell any of them, will you?”

“No.” Oliver promised. “Won’t tell humans- I swear.”

Bing still looked a little nervous, but dropped downwards anyway, leading Oliver to a grate on the wall. “This is part of the water filter.” he explained as he worked his fingers under the edge. “It’s supposed to be bolted on, but I think someone forgot.”

Pulling the lid off, Bing swam through and gestured Oliver to follow. While Bing was able to slid in easily, Oliver had to struggle to fit himself through the opening that Bing had made. He’d have worried about getting fat if Bing wasn’t just so _thin_ \- where the humans even _feeding_ him?

Inside, Oliver found himself in a tunnel that he had to pull himself along to follow Bings same path. The water was being pulled in the same direction he was traveling, making this so much easier. He could also hear machinery nearby, and they passed by several other grates along the way. Worried, Oliver peaked inside them as he went, but he didn’t see anyone else like them. Bing seemed to be the only mer-eel the humans had captured.

“Bing?” He called, the other eel pausing to glance over his shoulder. “How did you find- come here?”

“Well, the scientists said they saved me from a shark attack when I was little. I don’t really remember any of it, but,” he shrugged. “I’ve been here since. Up until you I’ve never, well… oh, here we are.”

Up ahead, Bing paused and wiggled his way around in the tunnel, pointing to an opening covered by three rusty black bars, and through them Oliver could smell the ocean, could see the stars shimmering above the water.

Settling himself the best he could as the water attempted to push him along, Oliver reached for the pars and attempted to push two of them apart with his hands, straining his strength as his side began to hurt and his head got fuzzy. He let go, slumping against the tunnel as whatever drug the humans had given him cut off his strength. His tail thumped against the tunnel as he thought, glancing up at Bing who was watching him in a way that suggested he’d bolt if Oliver went berserk again.

“Watch this.” Oliver said, before bracing himself up on one arm and facing the opening, sucking in water through his gills as he readied his body, and finally let out a piercing _shriek_ into the open ocean.

Reeling back, Bing looked at Oliver in shock. Apparently, he hadn't known their kind could _do_ that. “What was- what was that?”

“Watch.” Oliver muttered, resting against the bottom of the tunnel, waiting. Normally, he and his brothers avoided this area and the humans living here, but maybe, with Oliver having gone missing… but he didn’t even know how long he’d be out, or how long it would take them to realize he and Bing had gone missing. What would they think when they saw the removed grate? Perhaps they already knew it could be removed, and that was why this part was blocked off. Or maybe it was to stop anything from getting in… either way, it was their mistake.

The return call came far quicker than Oliver had thought it would. It was Green’s call, searching for him. Without needing to think about it, Oliver repeated his call, and soon one call turned into three, rapidly approaching. Oliver smiled- even as his throat hurt from yelling so loudly.

Despite it being Green’s call he’d heard, it was Red who reached him first. He had no hesitation in grabbing the barrier keeping Oliver trapped, tearing it from the pipe and allowing Oliver to wiggle his way out, Green swimming up to help support Oliver as his tail slowly trailed behind him and out into the water. But no sooner had he gotten free then he pulled out of Green’s hold and swam back to the, reaching in and pulling Bing out with him.

Both his brothers echoed the same shock that Oliver had felt when he’d first seen Bing. A moment later Red snarled, thrashing his tail in the water. Bing flinched, but Oliver knew Red’s anger wasn’t directed at either of them. Oliver opened his mouth to explain, only for-

“ _Later, once we’re home_.” Google commanded, gathering the attention of his brothers before he turned and swam back in the direction of home. Green and Red followed without a second thought, and Oliver after them, holding Bing close the entire way.

Bing seemed more shocked than anything, wiggling in Olivers grasp but not leaving it. Or- it occured to Oliver that Bing might not be _strong_ enough to get out of his grasp if he wanted, this ‘wiggling’ could be his attempt at ‘struggling’. He kinda felt bad about taking Bing away from everything like that- but he had too, this was for his own good.

But it was worth it too see the look on Bing’s face when they got deeper. Under the night sky, the only light this far deep was from the electricity buzzing under their skins, just enough to illuminate the coral around their home. Far more vibrate and varied in shape than the fake ones Bing was used to, and just ‘crawling’ with small fish and an octopus that Oliver had named ‘Explorer’, since he kept trying to squeeze into places in the coral reef he shouldn’t.

“Wow.” Bing muttered.

“ _Wow, indeed_ .” Green swam around them, his green light mixing with Olivers. And, now that they were someone darker, Oliver could just barely make out a faint glow running up and down Bing’s body. “ _We pride ourselves on our nest. Large enough to house all four of us with ease, near enough to our preferred hunting grounds that we don’t waste half our meals to travel back and forth, and out of the way of danger. I don’t think there’s anything else quite like it under the sea_.”

“ _Gee, Green, Think you you could find a way to brag even_ more?” Red asked, swimming past while rolling his eyes. “ _The kid just got here- you at least give him a chance to see it for himself first_.”

“ _He can see it just fine_.” Green crossed his arms, lifting his chin.

“ _It’s the middle of_ night. You _can’t even see the end of your own tail at this hour_.” Red swam up so that he was above Green, making him roll his eyes back at Red.

“Um.... what?” Bing asked. In English. Oh… right. He and his brothers were speaking…. He’d almost forgotten. Green and Red glanced at him in confusion, than turned their gazes to Oliver.

“ _Oliver_ .” Google swam closer, tilting his head as he scanned the smaller eel. “ _Explain_.”

So Oliver did. He told them everything that had happened, from admitting what he’d been sneaking off to do to his time spent with the humans and everything he knew about Bing. He felt bad about talking about him while he couldn’t hear, but he seemed to understand he was the topic of discussion from the way everyone kept looking at him. For now, the smaller eel just watched, not speaking up about not understanding the words coming out of Olivers mouth. Google also listened silently, in that way he did like he already knew what Oliver had to say.. Red and Green were pretty vocal, especially Red, getting more and more angry with the humans as they learned about how they’d kept Bing as a pet and were planning to do the same to Oliver.

“ _So, uh, he didn’t_ actually _hear our squabbling, then_ ?” Red asked, glancing back at Bing. “ _Great, that was a horrible first impression._ ”

“ _You were the one who made it an argument_ -” Green began, but was silence by a glance from Google.

“ _From the sounds of things, you wish to bring him in, Oliver. This isn't going to be easy, He’ll be an extra mouth to feed, and one that won’t be able to do much in return until he’s be taught- everything. There's no guarantee he’ll ever become what he could have been if he hadn’t grown up under the humans ‘care’. In fact, he’ll likely be crippled for life._ ” Google paused, turning his attention back to Bing. “ _At this point, he might not even understand what could be so wrong with living in a tank for the rest of his live_.”

“ _But,_ ” Google glanced back up, and Oliver already knew the answer. After all- Google hadn’t been able to abandon the three of them when he’d found each of them, alone and helpless and too young to fend for themselves. “ _He can stay._ ”


End file.
